St Mewan

St Mewan
St Mewan is located in Cornwall
St Mewan
St Mewan
Location within Cornwall
Population3,315 (2021 census)
OS grid referenceSW998517
Civil parish
  • St Mewan
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSt. Austell
Postcode districtPL26
Dialling code01726
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall
50°19′52″N 4°48′54″W / 50.331°N 4.815°W / 50.331; -4.815

St Mewan (Cornish: Sen Mewan) is a civil parish and village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of St Austell. It is a small settlement, comprising the parish church, rectory, a school and nearby farms.

St Mewan parish also includes the settlements of Hewas Water, Sticker, Trelowth, Trewoon, and most of Polgooth. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 3,315.

For elections to Cornwall Council, St Mewan is in the St Mewan and Grampound electoral ward. It was in the St Mewan electoral ward (which also included neighbouring villages) from 2005 to 2021.

Geography

St Mewan Beacon is a natural landmark to the north-west of Trewoon. It is a tor exposure of quartz-topaz-tourmaline rocks that has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its geological characteristics. St Mewan Beacon was studied by Cornish mining engineer and mineralogist Joseph Henry Collins who published an account of it in 1914.

Demographics

Census population of St Mewan parish
Census Population Female Male Households Source
2001 3,071 1,574 1,497 1,324
2011 3,210 1,638 1,572 1,383
2021 3,315 1,674 1,641 1,502

Landmarks

St Mewan church

The Church of England parish church is dedicated to Saint Mewan, a sixth-century Celtic saint who was born in Wales, visited Cornwall, and is mostly venerated in Brittany. The current building dates from the 13th century and is mentioned in a bishop's inquisition of 1294 as the 'Ecclesia de St Mewany'. It was, however, substantially rebuilt in 1854 by George Edmund Street and enlarged in 1890. The church tower is of only two stages and is built of granite blocks. Local legend suggests that the original builders were prevented from raising it higher by the devil, who threw down their stones each night.

Education

St Mewan Community Primary School was founded (as St Mewan Board School) in the nineteenth century, the main building being designed by Silvanus Trevail in 1874. The schoolmaster's house had previously been the St Mewan Inn. As of 2009, the school had around 400 pupils.[needs update]

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 Newquay & Bodmin ISBN 978-0-319-22938-5
  2. ↑ "St Mewan Parish Council St Mewan Cornwall Sticker Cornwall Trewoon Cornwall Polgooth Cornwall Trelowth Cornwall Hewas Water Cornwall Local Council". Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "St Mewan Beacon" (PDF). Natural England. 1993. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  4. ↑ J. H. Collins & F. Coon, "On the topaz rock of St Mewan Beacon, Cornwall", Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall; Vol. XV, 43-54 (1914)
  5. ↑ Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Key Statistics". Office for National Statistics. Tables KS001 (Usual resident population) and KS016 (Household spaces and accommodation type). Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  7. ↑ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – St Mewan Parish (E04013090)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  8. ↑ "Parish Profiles". Office for National Statistics. GSS E04013090 (St. Mewan civil parish) in tables PP001 (households) and PP002 (sex). Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  9. ↑ "Parish of St Mewan". Homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  10. ↑ N. Pevsner (1970) Cornwall, 2nd ed. p. 191. Penguin Books
  11. ↑ Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ W. Penaluna (1838) An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall; vol. 2, p. 93
  13. ↑ "Schools designed by Silvanus Trevail". Luxsoft.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  14. ↑ [dead link]